Records Management: The New Brunswick Case

Abstract

The New Brunswick CaseIn the mid 1960s New Brunswick began to recognize, rather shamefacedly, that it was the only province in Canada without a Provincial Archives.Historians, citizens and the press expressed disgust at its government's decision to construct a departmental office building as the federally funded centennial project and clamoured that a Provincial Archives was a more suitable and useful undertaking.The clamour added to an urgent need to deal with government records that could not be moved to the very office building, then under attack, and with county records, often thrown out during the closing of county offices as part of the re-structuring of regional government by the province's Equal Opportunity Programme.Today, New Brunswick has a fully 'integrated programme with archives, records management and central microfilming under the direction of the Provincial Archivist.It boasts a modern records centre, legislation which gives the Provincial Archivist clear and comprehensive powers in the field of records management, a file classification plan and records schedule designed to meet the needs of New Brunswick municipalities of various sizes and approved schedules for many Department of Justice and provincial court records.The programme benefits from a number of practical advantages such as the inclusion of a records analyst on screening and interview panels for departmental records staff, file classification systems designed with ease of scheduling as a prime aim and the acceptance of central registries in several departments which actually incorporate ministers' files.All this has been accomplished with only modest growth from an original staff of five to eight in records management and four to five in central microfilming.Much of the success of the programme is due to the capability, tenacity and dedication of the people responsible for its direction and operation, five of whom have been involved since its inception.Other reasons for the advance of records management lie in its opportune timing.It was born in New Brunswick during the buoyant Sixties, late enough to benefit from the experience of the federal government and several provinces in records management.Moreover, its beginning was unhampered by the traditional view of archives as a storehouse for treasures.Also, the relatively small size of the provincial government, its effective 1 The author wishes to acknowledge the assistance of the first two Provincial Archivists of New Brunswick who were responsible for the development of records management at PANB-Hugh Taylor and Michael Swift.Much of the backgrqund material has been gleaned from personal interviews with them and with Fern LeBlanc (Supervisor of Records Management), Catherine Gibson (Records Analyst) and Mark Fallon (Microfilm Analyst), who have been with the programme since 1966.

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